(By Richard Holway 6.00pm 21st Apr 09) I had a really excellent lunch today at the House of Commons with Dr Vince Cable MP - the Liberal Democrat's much-respected economics spokesman. It was one of a series held by the Prince's Trust Technology Leadership Group. Readers must by now be aware of my involvement!I won't divulge the conversation in detail as it was private lunch. But firstly I was really impressed by Cable. He is probably the only politician whose reputation has been enhanced by recent events. If only he could be part of a Government (of whatever hue)
The lunch was attended by about 20 of the CEOs of the leading companies in the UK tech sector. There was not one request for Government financial aid or even any moans about the environment today. Indeed the conversation was all about skills shortages, global sourcing, education, seed capital, CGT, mobility etc. Cable said at the end that, out of all the lunches and meetings he had attended in the last 3 months, ours was the only one to be positive!
I think that the 2000-2003 downturn in tech (a downturn which didn't affect the general economy) probably did us much good. We had recent experience and many companies took action quickly. Also the sector is at its best when 1) its customers want to save money and 2) when the technology environment is changing very fast. I know that many companies are hurting. But, conversely, many are doing very well. As a sector we seem to weathering this storm much better than many others. We should be thankful!
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